In 2002-03 ADILEP took up TB, malaria, eye care and HIV/AIDS activities with an overall objective to reduce the transmission of these diseases. The project is spread over 905 revenue villages in 24 mandals covering 903603 population of Adilabad district. It also supports the District TB Society by running 10 Microscopy Centres to achieve 70 per cent detection rate and 85 per cent cure rate among new sputum positive cases.  The project is supporting APSACS by running three VCCTC centres located at Nirmal, Bhainsa and Kagaznagar. The project is also running one vision centre at Nirmal for screening of cataracts and referring them to District Blindness Control Society.

PoD/PoWD details:

Objective:

To prevent nerve damage and restore the nerve function and to reduce the disability rate among new cases. No worsening of existing disabilities.

The programme was started in August ’98. All paramedical staff was trained in PoD programme and 6601 were screened out of which 2900 cases were identified for this programme. Each group was followed up periodically four times in the year.

Need identification by nerve function assessment:


Any leprosy case may develop nerve impairment during and after treatment period without the knowledge of the patient, Nerve function assessments to prevent the primary deformities and to sensitise the patients in self-care practices by giving the practical knowledge and to prevent further nerve damage & asses the POD/POWD needs

Ulcer care:

Ulcer is the major problem of a leprosy-affected person. To prevent the psycho-social problem of the patient and family members and to prevent amputation dressing kits were provided to all the field workers who visit the patient’s house once in a week to treat and give practical demonstration to patients and their family members. 

Tuberculosis is a common and deadly infectious disease. Over one third of the world population now carries TB bacterium and new infections occur at a rate of one per second.  Considering the endemic rate of TB the ADILEP Project started TB activities in 2003 to support the RNTCP programme in the district.   The activities include providing DOTS in DMCs, referral of patients to concerned MCs in the project area, annual examination of contacts of sputum +ve cases, prophylaxis to child contacts, IEC activities, and capacity building to community and stakeholders on RNTCP and DOTS

The project started with 2 Designated Microscopic Centre (DMC) and later extended to 8 more DMCs in the district. Out of 35 DMCs in the district 10 DMCs come under ADILEP project, which is catering to tribal and remote areas of the district.
 

Globally, based on the 2002 world population, more than 161 million people were visually impaired, of whom 124 million had low vision and 37 million were blind, including 1.4 million under the age of 15 years (Source: WHO). 

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) plays a pivotal role in creating awareness, mobilising people and making development participatory through advocacy and by transferring knowledge, skills and techniques to the people. It is also critical for bringing about transparency in implementation of the programmes at the field level and for promoting the concept of accountability and social audit. 

In addition to work in TB and HIV/AIDS, LEPRA Society also works in malaria and disabilities arising from diseases other than leprosy. LEPRA is involved in the implementation of the government’s National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP) and does extensive work in eye care and prevention of blindness. However, as more and more leprosy-focused organisations discontinue their field-based activities, leprosy-affected persons are at the risk of being marginalised and neglected. Leprosy and leprosy- affected persons must therefore remain the primary focus for LEPRA Society and, in an increasingly challenging policy landscape LEPRA continues to support the integration process as well as to provide field-based care and rehabilitation services to leprosy- affected persons.

LEPRA Society recognises the growing and urgent public health challenges posed by TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS and is therefore utilising its strong field operations and substantial technical expertise to address them.